Richard O’Dwyer is spared extradition

TWENTY-SOMETHING STUDENT Richard O'Dwyer, who faced extradition for running the TV Shack website, will pay a fine to put the case behind him.

Richard O'Dwyer was accused of making somewhere in the area of £150,000 from advertising on the TV Shack website, a linking website for which he worked as an administrator.

O'Dwyer has been fighting extradition for two years with the vehement support of his mother. Last night she said in a tweet that the fine was the "best we could have achieved".

Yesterday in court in New York the student ended the two year battle when he agreed to pay a fine of £20,000 and promised not to break any US laws.

"So far as we know this is a first in extradition cases - and a sensible solution for UK defendants faced with an ever-growing extra-territorial reach of US prosecutions," his lawyer, Ben Cooper told the BBC.

Julia O'Dwyer, Richard's mother and campaigner, said that she was glad the case was over, but that it could have been resolved sooner and without two years of extradition worries.

"This matter could have been dealt with over two years ago without the threat of extradition, which in my view is using a sledgehammer to crack a nut," she said.

The student echoed this, saying, "I'm happy it's finally over. I still maintain I never thought I was committing a crime. I'm glad the US has decided to drop the case. It's a pity the UK wasn't able to resolve this."